Pictures of your set up

[Tinker1947]

The Obby is more or less complete the C11 has replaced the 10" Newt, now just need some clear sky's......

[Dan Watts]

Just before taking the scope out the other night when we finally got a clear sky...Can't wait for ISON to become clearer, hope it ends up being as bright as they hope it to be

[Laurie61]

Nice scope, I like the colour   8" f 6 is a good all round spec.

[Alien 13]

This is my baby i like to travel light.

EQ3-2 and WO ZS71

[swedonator]

Well here's mine

(excuse the dust !) well I could pop it outside to wash it off with all the rain we've got !

Neil

I see that you have a camera on it. May we see some images from it? :-)

[ollypenrice]

This incarnation didn't work because there was no way to align the scopes successfully without adding hardware which overloaded the Tak EM200 mount.

However, it will be back!   We have, in the post, an ADM guide scope adjuster capable of carrying one of these FSQ106/Atik 11000s and an EQ8 on order to carry the lot.  The Trutech wheel has also been replaced by a second EFW2 so this will make a coherent and efficient speed machine. (F5, 3.5 arcseconds per pixel.) The right hand one is Tom O'Donoghue's.

Olly

[cfpendock]

A very nice looking set up Olly.  Looking forward to seeing the images when you have the bigger mount.  I don't quite understand what is the light blue background at the top of the pic....

Chris

[buzz]

Updated after selling the family silver and investing in a 10Micron Mount.  When it's cloudy, I sit and polish the counterweights. With my longer refractor, the filter wheel hit the tripod legs, so I designed and had made up an extension, rather like the Avalon one. The filter wheel just grazes past now.

[Druid]

Just took some photos of my 'light' setup for another thread. 

Mount is an Altair Astro Sabre on EQ5 legs. 

[Stu]

Here are my two setups. Have tweaked quite a lot over the last year, getting to the stage of being very happy with both now.

Grab and go

Induro AT413 Tripod

Mini Giro with counter-weight bar and potential for second clamp

TV76 (not the 106 shown here!)

I can use just the 76 at night, or add the Herschel Wedge and PST for solar.

Main setup

EQ6 Tripod

AYODigi Alt-Az head

OMC 200

AT106 EDT

80mm bino finder on sliding dovetail to help balance

Argo Navis if needed/wanted

This rig is rock solid, doesn't need a counterweight if only one scope is used, and can go reasonably high to help observing at the zenith. The movement is very smooth, easy to track objects at high power. I just need to tweak the alt axis slightly so both scopes are aligned. Gives me a nice range of widefield and high power on one tripod, and still relatively quick to setup.

Stu

[John]

Very nice Stu 

As there seems to be a little alt-azimuth theme going on, I'll add some pics of my 4 scopes:

- Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 on the AZ-4 mount, here with the Kendrick solar filter.

- Skywatcher ED120 F/7.5 on the Ambermille Alt-Az 

- Istar Perseus 150mm F/12 on the Bray Tablet alt-az and the Meade giant field tripod

- Orion Optics 12" F/5.3 on the "Moonshane" dobsonian mount

[Naemeth]

Need to get my scopes out for some pictures in the garden soon... of course, it's not too easy to take 7 OTAs down 3 flights of stairs and 4 mounts  . I could do it in 10 trips or so, I expect.

[John]

Need to get my scopes out for some pictures in the garden soon... of course, it's not too easy to take 7 OTAs down 3 flights of stairs and 4 mounts  . I could do it in 10 trips or so, I expect.

That is a tough challenge. I just have to step through the french windows with mine. Even then I am often asking myself if I can justfiy 4 scopes given the amount of observable nights we have

In truth I could get by perfectly well with just a couple. Downsizing is painful though   

[Naemeth]

That is a tough challenge. I just have to step through the french windows with mine. Even then I am often asking myself if I can justfiy 4 scopes given the amount of observable nights we have

In truth I could get by perfectly well with just a couple. Downsizing is painful though   

Not going to downsize, not yet certainly

[Kirscovitch]

Lots of nice looking setups! 

Here's my Z10. Still haven't had first light with it yet 

[Macavity]

My "Deep Sky" Video Astronomy Setup. Now remote-controlled

from the comfort of my living room  - Far too COLD out there!

[Kirscovitch]

My "Deep Sky" Video Astronomy Setup. Now remote-controlled

from the comfort of my living room  - Far too COLD out there!

Well maybe it's just me. And maybe it's just me being new to the whole astronomy thing.

But isn't getting "outside" under the night sky part of the idea? 

[nicks90]

couldnt agree more. Computer screen = searching for hubble images. telescope = photons hitting my own eyeballs.

but different strokes for different folks, it would be boring if we were all the same and as long as we all enjoy our own aspects of astronomy - its all good.

[Macavity]

Well maybe it's just me. And maybe it's just me being new to the whole astronomy thing.

But isn't getting "outside" under the night sky part of the idea? 

And hasn't this been "debated" uhm... rather a lot of times before? <G> 

"Maybe it's just me"... But isn't being *negative* about others' setups a tad... churlish?

- And certainly (by most common sense standards) a bit pointless? lol "Not being rude", 

but maybe I am doing this for well-considered, personal, and *good* reasons? etc. etc. 

Aside: In 50 years observing, I have done all of "Star hopping", GoTo, now remote video.

I occasionally (minorly) bang the drum for this latter style of observing precisely because

it seems to be of interest to others - Not everyone enjoys (your?) youth, health, strength

riches etc. Think about it? And, of course, it goes without saying it's "just my opinion".

[ChrisLX200]

I have a few setups to use depending on whether imaging or viewing (though sadly, visual astronomy is getting more difficult with poor eyesight so I'm concentrating on imaging now).

Imaging at long f/l I use the 10" LX200 with 1000mm Vixen guidescope.

Using my little TV Pronto as guider is also possible:

The Pronto makes for a good guidescope in combination with my TV Genesis SDF for wide-field imaging.

Here's my 12" f/5.4 Newt on my home-made GEM mount and tripod, mainly for visual observing (though does a fantastic job on the planets with a webcam). As I mentioned though I don't do much visual astronomy now so will likely sell this OTA.

ChrisH

[DrRobin]

Hi,

Each to his own?  I don't see many NASA officials looking through the Hubble eyepiece or any of the other big scopes around the world.

I mostly image (like Macavity) and on a DSO run there really isn't much to do at the scope once you have set it away.  May be where you live it is nice enough to sit outside for a few hours, but it is freezing at my house at the moment and three hours sat watching a telescope image is not going to do me any good, or for that matter keep my interest.

Planets are different though, I still sit outside and tinker whilst imaging, but then the runs are shorter and I normally use my laptop in place of the obs computer.

My new obs is a small imaging obs and is not big enough for me to look through the eyepiece, even if I wanted to.  That is an 8" scope in there, just big enough for it move to most parts of the sky, before it hits the obs wall.

Robin

[Steve Ward]

Wow , I bet that was fun to get set up ... 

[DrRobin]

I set the mount plate to true north using a sighting before the dome was put in place and then used a webcam stuffed on the end of the polar scope to polar align, it worked quite well.  I have to use a camera on a finder scope to align and find my targets, especially for the planets like Jupiter.  If I change scope, I have to align the finder on the scope first before it is put in otherwise it might be too far out.

I reckon you could get one of these up your pier?

Robin

[John]

Some great looking scopes folks 

Why not have a remote setup like Chris / Macavity's if thats how you want to play it ? 

It's a hobby after all !

[Kirscovitch]

And hasn't this been "debated" uhm... rather a lot of times before? <G> 

"Maybe it's just me"... But isn't being *negative* about others' setups a tad... churlish?

- And certainly (by most common sense standards) a bit pointless? lol "Not being rude", 

but maybe I am doing this for well-considered, personal, and *good* reasons? etc. etc. 

Aside: In 50 years observing, I have done all of "Star hopping", GoTo, now remote video.

I occasionally (minorly) bang the drum for this latter style of observing precisely because

it seems to be of interest to others - Not everyone enjoys (your?) youth, health, strength

riches etc. Think about it? And, of course, it goes without saying it's "just my opinion".

It is as you put it "just your opinion".  You are entitled to it just as I am mine.